Migrant Children In US Custody Could Soon Be Released Now That A Trump Policy Was Rolled Back

On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced it is easing the policy blamed for the ballooning number of kids in immigration detention — nearly 15,000 kids are now in U.S. custody, most of whom came to the country alone. In June, Trump officials began requiring all adult members of a parent or sponsor's household to be fingerprinted and undergo a background check before kids could go live with them. Easing that Trump policy will quicken the release of unaccompanied minors to family and other sponsors in the United States.

The assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Lynn Johnson, told NPR on Tuesday that the policy was "not adding anything to the protection or the safety of children." She all but admitted the move was a mistake. "The children should be home with their parents," Johnson said. "The government makes lousy parents."

The government will still check public records of all adults living in sponsor households, but this will not slow down the process as much. Johnson said as many as 2,000 children will be released in the coming days; their sponsors have already been checked out.

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In addition to taking longer for the government to process sponsorship applications, the fingerprinting and background checks of potential sponsors led some family members to hesitate in making the application in the first place.

The information was run through not just state and FBI criminal databases but was also shared with the Department of Homeland Security and run through Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) records, which would flag immigration violations. When the policy was announced, many immigration advocates said parents might not come forward for fear of arrest and deportation.

That could remain an impediment to some children's release. The policy remains stricter than under Obama or the first year of the Trump administration. Before the June announcement, parents were not typically fingerprinted — only sponsors who were other relatives or family friends were made to undergo that additional check, and it was checked against an FBI database. The background check did apply to all sponsors but no immigration data was shared with ICE.

Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut condemned the remaining facets of the policy in a statement to Texas Monthly. "The heart of this harmful policy is still in place," DeLauro said. "HHS should focus on providing the best care for these children, not be used as an immigration enforcement tool by fingerprinting sponsors when there are no red flags and then sharing that information with ICE. This process endangers children and will perpetuate their detention in HHS shelters."